Work, Life And Leisure

(i) The city of London acted as powerful magnet for migrant population. The city offered all kinds of jobs for people of different status and class. There were jobs for clerks, shopkeepers, skilled artisans, labour class and soldiers also. By 1750, one out of every nine people of England and Wales lived in London. So, the population of London kept expanding through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

(ii) Apart from the London dockyard, five major types of industries employed large population. They were clothing and footwear, wood and furniture, metals and engineering printing and stationery and precision products such as surgical instruments, watches and objects of precious metal. During the First World War, London also started manufacturing motor cars and electrical goods. This increased the number of large factories, which in turn increased the number of people coming to the city in search of work.

Changes in the kind of work available to women in London between the nineteenth and the twentieth century were primarily based on industrial and technological advancements.

(i) Consequently, women had to work in households for a living, and this led to an increase in the number of domestic servants. Large number of women used their homes to increase family income by taking in lodgers or through activities like tailoring, washing or matchbox making. According to 1861 census about one-fourth of a million women worked as domestic servants in London-most of them were from migrant families.

(ii) The First World War brought a change in the kind of their work. They withdrew from domestic services to get employment in war time industries and offices. They once again joined the industrial sector.

Factors which led to this change:

(i) Factories employed large number of women in late 18th and 19th century with technological developments, but gradually women lost their jobs and were forced to work within households.

(ii) There was a great change in 20th century. As the First World War started, women got employment in wartime industries and offices so, they gradually withdrew from domestic services.

(i) A private landlord: Industrialization created the number of job opportunities in cities which attracted the population towards the urban areas. The existence of a large population means that there would be greater number of individuals in need of a place to stay. This increased demand for places of residence is profitable for private landlords who can then rent out rooms at high rates. So, when people migrated to the city in large number, the private landlords took full advantage of the situation. They charged heavy rents exploiting the situation. Thus, they were profited due to the existence of a large urban population.

(ii) A Police Superintendent in charge of law and order: The existence of a large urban population means that there will be increased cases of crimes, social conflict and rebellion. Police were responsible for maintaining the law and order. So, when London flourished, crime also grew rapidly. The police were bothered about law and order. To get rid of its criminal’s, activities were watched, and their life were examined. In order to control the crime:

● The authorities imposed high penalties for crime.

● They offered work to those who were considered the deserving poor

(iii) A leader of a political party: Large urban population implies the simultaneous presence of several social problems, such as problems of housing, food, water, etc. These issues become political issues when they are taken up by political parties. Large urban population implies the simultaneous presence of several social problems, such as problems of housing, food, water, etc. These issues become political issues when they are taken up by political parties. When poor workers in London demanded relief from the terrible conditions of poverty but the marchers were brutally suppressed by the police in 1887. This episode came to be known as the Bloody Sunday of November 1887. Again two years later, thousands of London's dockworkers went on strike and marched through the city. This proved that a political leader was active only at the time of need and is dormant rest of the time. The demands of poor and needy fell on the deaf ears of the political leaders. They made all possible efforts to suppress the protests.

Older cities like London changed dramatically when people started pouring in after the Industrial Revolution. Factory or workshop owners did not house these migrant workers. Instead, individual land-owners put up cheap tenements for the workers. These tenements were very unsafe. As the condition of the houses was pitiful, the need for housing for the poor was felt.

Well-off Londoners supported the need to build housing for the poor in the nineteenth century because of three reasons:

● Health issues: They were afraid of health issues. One room houses of the poor were a serious threat to public health as they were overcrowded badly ventilated and lacked sanitation.

● Beauty of London affected from poorer: Large number of poorer in the city affected the beauty of London and their housing conditions also hold the threat of fire which can cause mass destruction in the city.

● Social disorder: There was a widespread fear of social disorder, especially after the Russian Revolution in 1917.

Thus, the workers' mass housing schemes were planned to prevent the London poor from turning rebellious. A variety of steps were taken to clean up London and attempts were made to decongest localities, green the open spaces, reduce pollution and landscape the city

Just like London Bombay was also attractive destination for those peoples who were in search of job after the Surat was replaced with Bombay by British administration as its principal western port. Migrants were became an important part of Bombay and huge part of film industry. As large part of the industry were migrants who came from cities like Lahore, Calcutta, Madras and contributed to the national character the industry, so they wanted to shows struggle of these people through films. In the films depiction of Bombay, were made of migrants and their encounter with the real pressures of daily life. It contributed in a big way to produce image of the city as a blend of dream and reality, of slums and star bungalows.

East India Company had replace Surat port with Bombay and in the nineteenth century it becomes an important western administrative port and industrial centre. Because of this more opportunities for trade and commerce, and employment was increased gradually. So, Bombay became an attractive destination for migrants seeking jobs.

So the major reasons for expansion of Bombay's population were:

1. Trade: Bombay became the capital of the Bombay Presidency in 1819, after the defeat in the Anglo-Maratha War. The city quickly expanded, with the growth of trade in cotton and opium, large communities of traders and bankers as artisans and shopkeepers came to settle in Bombay.

2. The establishment of textile mills: Establishment of textile mills led to a fresh surge in migration. The first cotton textile Bombay was established in 1854. By 1921, there were 85 cotton employing about 146,000 workers.

3. Railways: Bombay dominated the maritime trade of India till well into the 20th century, was also head of two major railways. The railways encouraged an even higher scale of migration into the city.

Forms of entertainment that came up in nineteenth-century England to provide leisure activities for the people were aplenty.

(i) For wealthy Britishers: There was the Annual London season for wealthy Britishers. It was annual cultural event that was held in London including operas, classical music performances,

(ii) Working class people: They usually met in pubs to have a drink, exchange news and sometimes they also organize political meetings to discuss the issues.

(iii) Common people: Several types of large-scale entertainment for the common people came into being. Libraries, art galleries and museums were 19th century to provide people with a sense of history and pride in the achievements of the British.

(iv) Lower classes: Music halls were popular among the lower classes. By the early 20th century cinema became the great entertainment for mixed audience.

(v) Industrial workers: British industrial workers preferred to spend their holidays by the sea, so as to derive the benefits of the sun and bracing winds.

Older cities like London changed dramatically when people began pouring in after the Industrial Revolution. These migrant people lived in tenements which were cheap but unsafe and dirty. Hence, the need for housing for them began to be felt tens were taken to clean up London.

The development of suburbs as a part of the drive to decongest London led to the extension of the city beyond the range where people could walk to work. Though these suburbs had been built, the people could not be persuaded to leave the city and stay far away from their places of work in the absence of some form of public transport. The Underground railway was constructed to solve this housing problem.

The London Underground railway solved the housing crisis by carrying large masses of people to and from the city. The very first section of the Underground railway the world opened on 10 January, 1863 and Farrington Street in London. By 1880, the train service expanded to a great extent a massive destruction.

The development of the Underground was criticized because:

● Underground travelling was considered risky.

● Many felt that it added to the mess and unhygienic conditions of the city.

● Also, to clear the path for the construction of the Underground, 900 houses were destroyed to build two miles of railways. This led to the displacement of a great number of London poor.

The Editor

The Times

London

Sub: Haussmannization of Paris

Through your esteemed newspaper wish to raise my concern about the reformation plan of Haussmann in Paris.

First, we should understand what Haussmannization was. When Louis Napoleon III (a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) became emperor in 1852 undertook the work of rebuilding of Paris.

He proposed Baron Haussmann, the chief architect for this purpose. Soon, Haussmann began rebuilding and reshaping the entire city of Paris. It is therefore called Haussmannization of the Paris.

No doubt it has created some problem for the poor, but more than that it has changed the face of Paris. Development of a nation can't compromise in the interest of a lesser section of people. So, whenever development takes a shape it affects some people, but in the interest of nation it is necessary. The way in which Haussmann rebuilt Paris is really praiseworthy. He laid out new streets, straight sidewalks, boulevards and open avenues, and planted full-grown trees. Not but the system has also been reconstituted. Policemen have been employed, night patrols have been introduced, bus shelters were built, and tap water have been introduced. All these are in the interest of a nation and people at large. Paris became a symbol of civic pride for the French and it became the nucleus of many new architectural, social and intellectual developments that influenced other parts of the world in the twentieth century. So we can undermine the pains and sufferings of the poor for that. The government will surely take steps for their rehabilitation.

Thanks

Yours sincerely

ABC

Government laws play an important role in controlling the rates of pollution in a city. However, simply passing laws is not enough. They need to be properly enforced as well. So, apart from
legislations, government also needs to carry out intensive public awareness programmes aimed at educating the public about the need and ways of controlling pollution; and about how they too have a stake in environmental governance.

Examples of how legislation changed the quality of Public life:

City developments everywhere occur at the expense of ecology and the environment. Large quantities of refuse and waste products polluted air and water and excessive became a feature of urban life.

(i) Failure: Colonial authorities also made efforts to control pollution but the railway line introduced in 1855 brought a dangerous new pollutant into the picture Coal from- Raniganj

(ii) Success: In 1863, in Calcutta for the first time smoke nuisance legislation were made. The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Commission was successful in controlling industrial smoke in colonial Calcutta.

Examples of how legislation changed the quality of Private life:

(i) Success: The British government passed the Clean Air Act in 1956. This law was aimed at controlling domestic sources of smoke pollution, and to do so, it introduced the concept of smokeless zones. In these areas, smokeless fuels had to be burnt. As a result, air pollution in British cities was substantially reduced.

(ii) Failure: Pollution increased due to extensive use of coal in homes and industries, smoke coming from hundreds of factory chimneys. In order to control it, the Smoke Abatement Acts of 1847 and 1853 were passed but they went futile.